t's got its silken side.

"An', after all, mebby I'm too narrow about Red Dog. Thar's times
when I fears that drawn aside by prejewdyce I misjedges Red Dog
utter, an' takes for ignorant vulgar'ty what comin' down to cases is
merely noise. It's the whiskey they drinks, most likely. They're
addicted to a kind of cat-bird whiskey over thar, which sets 'em to
whistlin' an' chirpin' an' twitterin' an' teeterin' up an' down on
the conversational bough, to sech a seemin'ly empty-headed extent it's
calc'lated to mislead the ca'mest intellects into a belief that the
c'rrect way to deal with Red Dog is to build one of these yere
stone corrals 'round it, call it a loonatic asylum, an' let it go at
that.

"Wolfville's whiskey?

"We-all confines ourselves to Valley Tan an' Willow Run an' Old
Jordan, all lickers which has a distinct tendency to make a gent
seedate, an' render him plumb cer'monious. I in no wise exaggerates
when I avers that I freequent cuts the trail of parties who, after the
tenth or mebby it's the 'leventh drink across the Red Light bar, waxes
that punctillious they even addresses a measly Mexican as 'Sir.'

"Recurrin' to Red Dog, that silken occasion which I has in mind occurs
when, proceedin' without invitation an' wholly as volunteers, they
strings up the book-keep sharp who bumps off Spellin' Book Ben. Thar's
a brief moment when said action runs a profound risk of bein'
misconstrooed into becomin' the teemin' source of complications. You
see we ain't lookin' for nothin' in the way of a play from Red Dog
more del'cate than the butt of a six-shooter, an' it ain't ontil the
Red Dog chief himse'f onlimbers in planations, an' all plenty loocid,
that we ketches fully on.

"Red Dog goes further an' insists on payin' over what money they
wagers, an' all as honorable as though that contest which they bets on
goes to a showdown. Enright won't have it, though, none whatever; an'
what with one side heatedly profferin' an' the other coldly refoosin',
it looks for a time like thar's goin' to be feelin'. Friction is
averted, however, when Peets--who's allers thar with the s'lootion to
any tangle--recommends that Red Dog an' Wolfville chip in half an'
half conj'intly, to buy a tombstone for Spellin' Book, with a
inscription kyarved tharon, the same to read:

TO
THE MEMORY OF
SPELLING BOOK BEN.
PREFERRING DEATH TO THE